Success Story

Happy Valley LaunchBox Hosts Demo Day for Six Startups

Happy Valley LaunchBox powered by PNC Bank hosted a demo event April 11 at its facility in downtown State College for six startups that completed its inaugural 20-week FastTrack Accelerator program.

“This year, we extended our accelerator program from 10 to 20 weeks, added the opportunity to obtain modest funding and created events that connected founders with experts and advisers to help them overcome their specific challenges,” said Lee Erickson, chief amplifier at Happy Valley LaunchBox. “The six teams that completed the program collectively interviewed more than 350 customers and experts and worked through more than 50 iterations of their solutions. Some are already generating revenue and building active online communities.”

The six startups that presented were:

Customize IT, which streamlines the process of finding and comparing options for creating customized merchandise such as T-shirts and coffee mugs.

HemoGO, a blood-testing product that combines the camera in a smartphone, proprietary test strips, and a specialized phone case to provide a complete blood count (CBC) in less than 30 seconds.

Invent Penn State is a Commonwealth-wide initiative to spur economic development, job creation and student career success. Invent Penn State blends entrepreneurship- focused academic programs, business startup training and incubation, funding for commercialization, and university-community collaborations to facilitate the challenging process of turning research discoveries into valuable products and services that can benefit Pennsylvanians and humankind.